Hell Week

As we enter the final week of prep for the show opening (known by most in the theatre as Hell Week) there are a tremendous amount of hours that have to get put in to make things happen. Some things are coming together quickly and still with agonizing slowness at the same time. Yesterday I spent 2 hours designing the large head that will be the Wizard's in the Wizard's chamber. It is a series of layers that form a head that has to be human like and yet mechanical. The same was true for a portcullis (the entry arch for a castle) which is outside the Witches castle. As I designed the arch it needed to fit the opening that we have. Be recognizable for what it is and yet be dream like at the same time. Generally if you look closely most of the design elements contain some symbols that relate to other things. There is an a series of sharp angles above the portcullis which when looked at abstractly is a series of w's. (Wicked Witch West). I don't know how many people will catch that but it is there. The Wizards mechanical head has a massive brow and elements that when looked at symbolically have elements of being a turban which the professor wears in Kansas when Dorothy runs away. For the forest that we find the tin man and the cowardly lion I have chosen a more tropical feel to them because it is an exotic land to Dorothy. As we re-create the scenery for this play I'm constantly aware of the conceptual foundation that all of Oz is a dream world that has elements of real life.

We currently have several volunteers onstage all helping to create the scenery. Denise Bohle is bringing her painting talents to the Munchkinland walls and borders and her daughter Leah has been down to help with painting as well. Aaron Spoden has been here since getting out of college for the summer helping to base coat walls and cut out trees and bushes. Yesterday (Memorial Day) we worked all day with the help of Chris Schnarr to build the mechanism that will make Glinda appear. Some of these design ideas start out in my head as visual images that have to move in certain ways. If you saw me working on the Glinda design you would have seen me sitting at a table with my hands pretending to hold round balls that moved through the air in arcs and the created a ball from two side in the center. It's almost like an illusionist creating a magic trick. As my hands move I'm watching a movie in my head of what it would look like onstage in real size.

Last night we worked from the haunted forest to the witch melting. During and after the rehearsal on the main stage the dancers in the jitterbug scene led by Katy Miller worked for almost two hours on perfecting the intricate dance moves of the song. Everyone walked out of rehearsal having put in lots of hard work. One of the dancers said she had just burned off the whole plate of cheese fries she ate right before the rehearsal.

This show is a true community effort. In the old Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland movies they would say "Hey let's put on a show!" Then they would have a fabulous event that only Hollywood could dream of. With over 50 people involved in the creation of the Wizard of Oz- this is truly a community endeavor that will make people proud of for years to come. It may be "hell week" but the payoff is can be heavenly when it all comes together.